Well according to Lucas at C3, the show will definitely be taking place between Episode 3 and Episode 4. Since he indicated that there would only be at most one main character that SW fans are familiar with, I don't expect it to follow Yoda, Obi-Wan or anyone of that ilk. In fact if any main character is to appear I would suspect it to be either Vader or R2-D2 though neither on a regular basis. Vader as a maybe a nemesis for an episode as he hunts Jedis or enemies of the Empire. R2 if it follows something with Bail Organa, since R2 is the plucky hero of the movies.

I could see this being a show about the formation of the Rebellion, but on the lower levels of it, following a group of freedom fighters throughout their adventures. Sort of like a cross between the Andromeda and Firefly crews. Not necessarily answering to anyone, but having a true mission statement.

Lucas also indicated that they would film a full year worth of episodes first before broadcasting it. Something he said that they did with the Young Indy show. So my guess is it wouldn't be until 2007 before we saw the show, which is good timing since that will be the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

SilverZ

To add to that, I believe I read the series would not follow a set group of characters from week to week, but tell assorted tales from across the galaxy. Which I'd be grateful for them doing, as I don't need to see “Star Trek across the Star Wars Galaxy" or a Battlestar Galactica type show.

I'd be thrilled to see a show that one week could touch on Shaak Ti's escape from Coruscant, bounce to a named Clone Commander's struggle with developing an individual identity in a faceless army the next week, meet new characters from a planet we've only glimpsed in the movies another week, and then catch up to Boba Fett as he becomes a bounty hunter the next.

The origin of the Rebellion, the purge of the Jedi, and the further rise of Imperialism could be linking threads to the series, and allow characters to cross paths and have recurring roles. Imagine after a Shaak-Ti episode, and a Fett episode, you then have a converging story where Fett is commissioned to hunt her down and succeeds.

I personally would favour a story in which we DO get to see Darth Vader as the real scourge of the Jedi. In ROTS he just whacked some kids, no biggy, kinda cowardlike, don't you think.

Anyway, I'm very glad it is going to be between ROTS and ANH since that is the only story that truly matters for SW. Any other is just EU and isn't truly SW.

I believe that we can expect Boba Fett and others to pop in from time to time, to further cement that bridge between PT and OT, perhaps then we get some more Wookiee scenes, perhaps we get to go down with some Bounty-Hunters as well, immersing ourselves in that brimming cup of SW-society that was so well made in ANH.

On the other hand, more Empire, more showing WHY the Rebellion exists in the first place.

So far, the PT hasn't shown us an Empire that is truly evil. Palpatine is a Sith, so he's a sworn enemy of the Jedi, he instigated a way, but that war was rather clean, just combat between combatants, we never saw any collateral damage, small or large scale.

I really really would like to see Palpatine's new order being executed throughout the galaxy.

Also, show us the development of ROTS machinery into that of the OT. Show how those RSD become ISD, V-Wings and JSF-2 turning into all types of Tie, how the ARC develops into the X-Wing and other S-foil equiped craft.

Because, with 6 movies, I still have that "What is so ******* bad about the Empire" sensation. Yes, the single act of utter cruelty is the destruction of Alderaan, apart from that, aren't the Empire just hunting down Terrorists (Rebels)?

On Tatooine, we see that there are Stormtroopers, but that could've been just the party send down from the SD.

On Endor, Ewoks still roam freely through the forest, they're not being hunt down, despite the planet being a key-part of the grand plan.

On Cloud City, Lando says the Empire has taken control of Cloud City, but that could just be to create chaos.

Thinking about that, the fact chaos erupts after Lando says it, seems to indicate fear for the Empire, but still.... only implied.

As a matter of fact, Lando is the only one who actually gives some sense of the Empire being oppressive, yet Cloud City is being tolerated by the Empire, so they're not THAT oppressive.

Puzzling.

Anyway, regarding the TV-series, they do need to show a combination of things, adhering to what SW is about, because focusing on one aspect is too little to make for a good series. Too little to tell.

To add to that, I believe I read the series would not follow a set group of characters from week to week, but tell assorted tales from across the galaxy. Which I'd be grateful for them doing, as I don't need to see “Star Trek across the Star Wars Galaxy" or a Battlestar Galactica type show.

I'd be thrilled to see a show that one week could touch on Shaak Ti's escape from Coruscant, bounce to a named Clone Commander's struggle with developing an individual identity in a faceless army the next week, meet new characters from a planet we've only glimpsed in the movies another week, and then catch up to Boba Fett as he becomes a bounty hunter the next.

The origin of the Rebellion, the purge of the Jedi, and the further rise of Imperialism could be linking threads to the series, and allow characters to cross paths and have recurring roles. Imagine after a Shaak-Ti episode, and a Fett episode, you then have a converging story where Fett is commissioned to hunt her down and succeeds.

That’s my fanboy wish for the show.

I like the idea, but expand it a bit to be an arc of 2 or 3 episodes for a story, sort of like what Enterprise did in it's final season. That gives a lot more room to work with in terms of storytelling. A traditional TV series would require at least one re-occuring character, but since this is Star Wars most viewers would be able to accept your concept Tydirium, especially if there was an overall link to each arc.

I'm really curious to see where this live action TV series will be headed as well. I think the time period between ROTS and ANH is a good one to cover, as there is a nice chunk of years "missing" from the movies there. I know my wife made the comment after we went to ROTS that there seemed like there should be one more movie in between the two, which I felt too. Although we don't necessarily need characters like Obi-Wan, etc. showing up, I personally wouldn't mind seeing a few "name" characters now and then...and not just new, entirely made up characters just for the show. Much like others have mentioned, CG-based characters (like Yoda) could appear now and then, they could cover Boba Fett's early years, the start of the building rebellion, maybe some more info on the wookiees (maybe even wookiees vs. trandoshans, which is mentioned a lot in the ROTS visual dictionary), and I wouldn't mind seeing a little of Vader and the rise of the Empire. I kind of like the varying storylines concept too, and not necessarily following the same core group all of the time. I wouldn't mind seeing the "Han frees Chewie from slavery" story, but I'm sure some others would sooner not see Han at all, and I understand that too. I wouldn't mind seeing R2 and 3PO in the series somewhat regularly, since they wouldn't need "new" actors for these roles, and the movies are often said to be told from their "point of view". Anyways, lots of potential for this series, and I hope it turns out great. Jedi, rebels, the Empire rising, wookiees, Vader and all kinds of Star Warsy goodness I hope. I hope it isn't a clone of past Star Trek stories (no offense to fans of those shows though), but I'd just like to see something different. Star Wars and Star Trek are not the same thing (as I've often had to explain to people), and I'd like to see their series handled differently as well.

I think we're also supposed to believe that incidents like the Owen and Beru execution were common practice. Also, the Empire slaughtered Jawas and blamed it on another native species...that sounds pretty sketchy to me.

Having now seen all of the prequels, the worst thing the Empire did (before Alderaan) was destroy democracy. To us, as Americans, that's reason enough to hate them.

Myeah... what is democracy...

It's not the best thing around, you know. The way the old Republic became corrupt shows that.

And uhm... you being Americans, that's supposed to impress me? You're the UBER-democrats of the world or something?

Anyway, I see the destruction of Alderaan on the scale of the Galactic civil war as being equal to bombings of Cologne, Dresden and such.

Remember, take the right POV, the Empire IS the law and they hunt down and fight against terrorists. Now, you being American, you should be able to understand that, don't you?

As a comparison, American GI's murdered villages in Vietnam, does that make your country purely evil?

During WW-2, many cities full of civilians were bombed, does that make the Allies evil?

No.

So, coming back to "The Empire isn't that bad"... well, not as far as we've been shown.

There's none of this alien-phobic behaviour, as Palpatine has several non-humans as aides in the PT, we've not seen any location that is truly clearly being opressed. That is all built within EU stories and such.

Truly evil would be if it were completely like the Nazis, who presecuted whole inocent groups, who had programs set for the extermination of handicapped people and such.

Well, if we look at the OT, there aren't any aliens serving in the Empire, other than the Mos Eisley informant. I don't see Mas Amedda walking around with Palpatine, but I see alot of old (and incidentally, white) humans walking around with him. Granted, its retroactive conditioning, but I don't think its wrong to assume that the Empire may have moved into a xenophobic direction.

And I don't agree with the destruction of Alderaan as being like a bombing of a city. The destruction of Alderaan was more like an attempted genocide. The planet wasn't bombed, it was obliterated.

All force-users, with the exception of Palpatine and Vader, were (allegedly) hunted down and killed. That sounds like persecution to me.